3 Things You Can Do to Make Your Office Healthier

Offices and health clubs usually have two things in common: industrial grade carpeting and free water. That's about it. We're constantly reading stories about how bad modern offices are for us: the air might be toxic, the snack machine is making us fat, our chairs are trying to kill us, and so on. What's a health-minded office worker to do?

First of all, don't despair. (Some types of stress are famously bad for you, too.) Next, click on over to Lifehacker to read their full list of ten things offices can do to become healthier spaces. Some of these depend require cooperation from your manager, but these items are easy for workers to do all on their own:

1. Get a plant. Plants reduce stress, make the office look warmer and less corporate, and can even filter toxins from the air.

2. Eat healthier snacks. Lifehacker suggests that companies provide alternatives to the endless rows of chips, pretzels, and crystallized corn syrup that fill most office vending machines, and we are all for that. However, if you can't talk the boss into providing dried fruit and nuts, bring your own.

3. Take a break. You might not be able to convince your company to start encouraging people to play basketball in the middle of the day, but you can get up every once in awhile and stretch your legs.

Hopefully, we're headed toward a model where every office will consider standing desks and bike storage. But until then, you can make your work life healthier with a few small changes.

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt writes about work-life balance, stress management, and other topics relating to what makes us happy at work. A full-time freelancer, she deals with stress by blurring the lines between life and work to the point where the two spheres are barely separate. The happiest day of her career was when scientists proved that looking at pictures of cute animals makes us more productive.